Apparatus for making intravaginal packs



Jan. 24, 1950 o. POPPER ErAl.

APPARATUS PoR MAKING IrmzAvAGImu.` PAcxs Filed Sept. 26, 1945 otherdirections.

Patented Jan. 24, 1950 APPARATUS FOR MAKING INTRAVAGINAL. PAcKs OttoPopper andGordon Kestell Melvill, J ohan-4 Y nesburg, Transvaal, Unionof South Africa; said l i Melvill assignor to said Popper foriginaiapplication July 11, 1944,.seria1 No. 'y 544,434. Divided and thisapplication September 26, 1945, Serial No. 618,728. In thekUnion ofSouth Africa July 30, 1943 v l 1 claim. (ci. 1s-5) l l I Thisapplication is divided out of my co-pending y yapplication Serial No.544,434, filed on July ll,

1944, now Patent No. 2,444,528.

'I'his invention relates to apparatus for making of absorbent packs forintroduction into the f vagina.

Desirable characteristics of such a pack are -small initial volume inorder to facilitate its `introduction, and large absorptive capacity;and

to attain them the pack is usually made of compressed cotton wool whichis a material having high absorptive capacity relatively to its volume.

The cotton wool is obtained in sheet form, and in the operation ofcompressing the sheet and moulding it to the usual cylindrical shape ofthe pack by present methods, much of the original sheet surface becomesenclosed and overlaid. It appears to be the case however that theefficiency and speed of absorption by the compressed material depends agood deal upon the liquid that is to be absorbed having rapid and directaccess to the original sheet surface. The present invention provides acompressedvpack in which this availability of the original sheet surfacepersists in a high degree. 5

A pack according to the invention consists of absorbent sheet material,folded into a series of parallel and successively reversed pleats andcompressed transversely to the lines of folding of the pleats. It may beadditionally compressed in The pack is desirably of the usual rod shape,longer thanits diameter, with the lines of folding oi the pleatsparallel to the length of the pack. The pack is preferably ofcylindrical form; to attain which the rectangular cross sectional formthat is the direct result of the pleating and the lateral compression ofthe pleats, is further pressed to circular cross section.

An important effect of the pleated formation is that re-expansion of thepack, due to its absorption of liquid, takes place primarily in thedirections transverse to the lines of folding and thus to the length ofthe pack. This avoids any tendency of the pack to elongate when in useand absorbing moisture; and consequent danger of extrusion from thevagina.

The pleated formation may be produced in various ways. According to aconvenient method, the pleating is arrived at by a progressive procedurein which the ilat sheet of material is converted into a corrugated sheetwith the corrugations parallel to one another; and the corrugations areclosed together until they are converted into the compressed pleats.

This procedure may be carried out by contining the at sheet between apair of plates covering the cut piece of's'heet above and below andspaced apart by about the thickness of the sheet. One of the edges ofthe sheet which are to be lengthwise in thelcompleted pack and to whichthe corrugations are to be parallel, is: lodged against a member thatacts as astop to prevent bodily displacement of the sheet.` The oppositeparallel edge of the sheet is engaged by a member thatl moves in thedirectionof the stop. .Such movement causes the flat `sheet to assumeYthe form of a corrugatedsheet with theI length of the corrugationsperpendicular tothe direction of compression and with thecorrugationsmarkedly even and permanent in lthe sense thatfurthercompression in the same direction does notl alter the number of thefolds ortheirv positions relatively to the sheet material but onlycauses their pitch to be progressively reduced and the sheet material ofwhich they are composed to become denser. A.

Preferably thepack according to this invention is ofthe hairpin `formcomprising two separate or separable legs united at a hairpin head atone end of the pack. This form is known andpossesses certain specificadvantages, one of which is that if the withdrawing cord is ,attached tothe free end 0f one ofther legs, the soaked pack although swollen inthickness, can lnevertheless be withdrawn by means yof said cordas'continuous strip doubled in length but of half the .thickness itoccupied in the vagina. Another advantage is that upon the introductionof 'the pack head rst into the vagina said head becomes the firstportion of the pack to receivev moisture;l andthe head beingtherebylocally expanded, it causes the legs to spring apart to Vshape'and thereby anchor the pack vin the vagina. The inclusion. of thepleated structure in this hairpin form of pack, by increasing thetendency of the head to swell rapidly, enhances the spreading of thelegs.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, viz.,

Figure I shows the raw material of the pack.

Figures II to V are perspective views showing essential parts ofapparatus for making the packs. and illustrating stages in the method ofmanufacture.

Figure VI is a perspective View of the flnished pack, drawn to a largerscale.

Referring to the drawings, Figure I shows the rectangular sheet l0 ofcotton wool from which the pack is made. The length L of the sheet isabout twice the intended length of the completed pack Il, Figure VI;whilst its width W is according to the intended density of the pack.Apparatus suitable for making the pack comprises a pair of parallelplates I2, I3 of such length and breadth as t receive the at ,sheet le.between them. faid parallel plates are spaced lapart by about thethickness of the sheet Ill. The upper plate I2 can be swung back about apivot .I4 to enable the sheet I0 to be laid upon the lower plate I3, andthen replaced.

Spaced away from the end I5 of the pair of plates is a member I6, inwhichgis-xed la 'die I1 having a bore I8 of cylindrical form to lshapethe pack to its nal cylindrical form.

Between said end I5 of the plates and s aid die I'I is a member I9providing ,the funnel shaped passage 20. The function ,o f said passage.is to mould the pack material, as the 4latter is pushed through it,from the form which said material has when it enters said passageVEIL-to the nal cylindrical form of the die bore I8. With tthis object.the cross sectional shape of said passage at its end 2| is Athat ofaiiat rectangle of the same `width as the gap between the plates I2, i3and the cross section .changes progressively to the aforesaid `iinalcylindrical form at `the end 22.

23 is a blade Apositioned with its length extending inthe direction A inwhich the sheet i9 is to be compressed and -in which it is thereafter tobe driven through the passage 20. The blade is also positioned with itswidth W, or greatest crosssectional dimension, transverse to theconfining plates I2, I3. Said blade `can be moved in the direction ofits length.

' jIn making `use of this apparatus, the sheet It is inserted into thecasing as shown in Figure II,

whereupon the blade 23 is applied to the centre of length of the edge 24of the sheet that is distan-t Yfrom the funnel member I9, and is pushedforward in the direction of the arrow A. It thus drives the edge L24 ofthe sheet towards the opposite edge 25. Said edge 25 is held for a timesubstantially stationary by the end face 26 of the member I9. Thisaction causes a series of even and. parallel corrugations, lindicated by2i Figure II to appear in the sheet; and as theblade 23 continues tomove forward, the corrugations are pressed together and therebyprogressively assume the form of pleats.

At the same time the leading edge -25 of -the sheet I0 begins to bulgeinto the passage 2t as shown in ,Figure III. There `the converging Walls28 pffer dragging resistance to `the advance of the outer parts of theedge 25; Aso that the pleated sheet now progressively assumes a morerod-like `form, and by `bending vat its centre where the bladepressureon it is concentrated, begins the lormation o f the two legs 29turned back along the sides of the blade. Further blade advance,

Figure IV, finally drives the doubled rod into the bore I8 which shapesit to cylindrical form. Since, in this operation, the thrust of theblade elongates the blank to .Some vextent due allowance for suchelongation vis made iin determining the length L of the sheet I0.

The blade 23 is then retracted but the shaped pack may be left in thebore I8 for a time in order to set; and its setting may be assisted bysuch treatment as heating. The member I6 having been moved -to anotherposition, the completed pack is ejected from the bore I8 by a plungeri30, Figure V.

In order to facilitate the pushing forward of the pack material; toprevent said material being cut -through by `the blade; and to ensurethat the pack is not `,retracted from the bore I8 when the blade iswithdrawn, the blade is formed in steps 3| progressively diminishing inthickness towards the free end of the blade and providing the narrowerthrusting shoulders 52.- Also in order further to combat the tendency ofthe blade to retract the pack from the bore I8, the latter is formedwith a number of annular grooves 33 providing ythe forwardly Adirectedacute edges 34 that are effective to resist movement of the pack in thebackward direction.

A Ywithdrawing cord `35 is sewn to the free original sheet II) intheproper position to appear at the end of one of the legs v29.

We claim:

Apparatus for producing a vaginal pack from compressible absorbent sheetmaterial, comprising a chamber defined by twoparallel walls that confinea piece of such material in the direction of its thickness, la funnel atone end of the chamber with its larger end of about'the same width asthe spacing of the chamber Walls and its smaller end circular, and a`blade movable through the chamber from the open end thereof and intothe funnel to press the sheet material from the chamber and through thefunnel, the blade surfaces and the surface of Athe small end of thefunnel being provided with formations to resist retraction of the packfrom the small end of the funnel by retractive movement of the blade.

OTTO POPPER. GORDON KESTELL MELVLL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date n 2,076,389 VVoss Apr. 6, 19372,263,909 Webb Nov. 25, 1941 2,286,817

